As summer turned to fall in Harrisburg, tens of thousands of soon-to-be soldiers gathered at Camp Curtin and adjacent military encampments as new three-year regiments were mustered into the United States Army.

For Pennsylvania regiments, Camp Curtin became the assembling point as stray companies were placed together under the new regiments. Among these were companies of soldiers from across the Coal Region.

Amid this sometimes chaotic assembly process, a soldier calling himself simply “J.S.B.” wrote to the Miners’ Journal in Pottsville to describe what was happening inside the military encampments.

I have not been able to identify who exactly J.S.B. was. In his letter, he describes events occurring in and around Captain Horace Bennett’s company of soldiers from Minersville, and it is probable that the author was in that company. It mustered in as Company E, 55th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, later in the fall of 1861.

The author also gets into a rarely discussed element of this assembly of units – the politicking as enlisted men maneuvered to fill officer positions among the various Coal Region units. “I have another of our Schuylkill County Captains to complain of,” J.S.B. wrote. “He is the one who enticed two of Captain Bennett’s men, who were on a visit to Camp Curtin to remain with him, stating that their being sworn into our company did not interfere with their joining him.”

The attempt failed. “There are men here who are smart enough to foil them in their intrigues,” he wrote, “as we have recovered the men.”

From the Miners’ Journal, September 28, 1861: 

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Letters from Our Volunteers

Camp Cameron, Harrisburg

Sept. 23, 1861

Dear Journal: – 

We are steadily increasing in numbers, and as usual have to report good health and good cheer among the troops. Occasionally we have some exciting scenes occurring which tend to break the monotony of camp life. 

One day last week, a sergeant or corporal, at the insistence of the father of one of our troops, who by the way had deserted from here, came into camp to decoy the son into Camp Curtin, where the father had gone. The son, however, proving loyal, wind was got of the visitor’s business, and he was politely informed that he must consider himself under arrest until Major Williams could be informed of the transaction. 

The Major would have allowed him to be drummed out of camp but for the confusion it would have caused. He was furnished with a passport in the shape of four guards, two of whose bayonets were pointed, in some proximity with his rear. 

Capt. Bennett’s company was drawn up in line to bid him farewell. 

Through the emissary it was ascertained that the father was arrested in Harrisburg awaiting the arrival of the son. A few men sent after him soon brought him back to camp, when he stated that he wanted an office, and that he had been promised one, I am sorry to say, by a captain from Schuylkill County whose offices are already full. 

One of our bands was also furnished with an escort to show them the gate for disobeying orders from headquarters. They wanted to go to Harrisburg and started without a pass, and were brought back by a detachment from the Guard, and in the afternoon were sent out of camp in the same manner for refusing to obey further orders. 

I must not forget this time to say a word or two of our Adjutant, G.K. Harris, to whom belongs much praise for the admirable manner in which he enforces the orders issued for the regulation of camp. Adjutant Harris is a young man of talent, and promise to gain honor in fighting for his country’s cause. He is, besides, altogether a clever fellow. 

I have another of our Schuylkill County Captains to complain of. He is the one who enticed two of Captain Bennett’s men, who were on a visit to Camp Curtin to remain with him, stating that their being sworn into our company did not interfere with their joining him. But he has probably discovered that though “there may be no officers in Camp Cameron,” there are men here who are smart enough to foil them in their intrigues, as we have recovered the men. 

Their stories at home, too, that some young men who came on here to join us, became disgusted before doing so… are now members of our company. For the present I forbear mentioning names, as they know who is meant. 

I have the gratifying fact to state that our company is nearly full and that we will this week receive our uniforms. The Secretary of War, whose name our Camp bears, has paid us a visit and furnished the necessary means to procure them. 

Yours, 

J.S.B. 

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Read the previous letter from the Letters from War: 1861 series.

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This is part of an ongoing series called “Letters from War: 1861” that will share correspondence written on the front lines during the turbulent first year of the Civil War.

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